Australia Day – Gratitude & Honesty

Australia Day invites both gratitude and honesty. Gratitude for what we have built together, and honesty about what must change if we want to remain a prosperous, cohesive nation.

In May 2024, Paul Kelly described what he called Australia’s “migration paradox”. His argument deserves serious reflection, not because it questions immigration, but because it challenges complacency.

Australia’s economic model, he wrote, has come to depend on high immigration, and “it is past time the flaws in this system were confronted.” Immigration, once a contributor to productivity and national capability, has increasingly substituted for productivity growth itself. The result is economic expansion but not rising prosperity per person.

This matters because economic growth per capita is the real test of success. It is what lifts living standards. It is what allows governments to fund health, education and support for the vulnerable — not by taking a larger slice of the pie, but by growing a bigger one.

Australia remains a remarkably tolerant and successful multicultural nation. But as Kelly warned, tolerance is not limitless. Weak income growth, high population growth and rising identity politics are a combustible mix. Other Western nations show us where that road can lead if social cohesion is taken for granted.

That is why Australia now stands at a crossroads.

Decoupling growth from the migration paradox

The task ahead is not to retreat from immigration, but to decouple economic growth from population growth.
Immigration must once again be a complement to productivity, not a substitute for it. Intake levels must be sustainable, aligned with housing supply, infrastructure capacity and genuine skills needs. This is not anti-migration; it is pro-prosperity and pro-cohesion.

At the same time, we should unapologetically reaffirm what has made multicultural Australia work. To understand the privilege of coming here. To embrace Australia, its values, its laws and its democratic institutions. That compact matters.
We are one nation governed by one law, and equality before that law is essential to social cohesion.

Growing our own skills

A sustainable migration system also requires honesty about our domestic failures. Both the VET and university reviews have confirmed what many Australians already know: too many people are being left without skills, without pathways, and without dignity in work.

We cannot rely indefinitely on importing labour while neglecting the potential of our own people. Skills policy is nation-building policy.
Yet in New South Wales, apprenticeship commencements are falling. That should concern anyone serious about productivity, opportunity and social mobility. Growing our own skills is not optional, it is essential.

Confidence, not fear

Australia Day should never be about fear or division. It should be about confidence, confidence that we can learn, adapt and reform without losing who we are.

We have much to be grateful for. We are one of the world’s most successful migrant societies. But success today does not guarantee success tomorrow.

If we confront the migration paradox honestly, rebuild productivity, invest in skills and reaffirm our shared national values, Australia’s best days are not behind us, they are ahead of us.